Manchester United Banter Archive July 10 2014

10 Jul 2014 20:09:39
Sanchez has said its great to sign for a club with so many fans all over the world . Does he not realise we are based in the north? Perhaps he thinks he is signing for us!

I hate this London thing - it's not like elite footballers benefit much from being in London, the major attractions for a young man in London they should not be doing or typically have no interest in if it's cultural. Stupid agents and advisers saying London is where its at because the North is never promoted!

A lot of opinions were he wanted CL football and blew United out

The north is where it's at! They should realise that!

10 Jul 2014 19:51:47
At the risk of getting Syd excited, I think one of the payers who may benefit most from Van Gaal is Cleverley. He has had a bad injury but I also think he got ahead of himself and started to believe the press he was getting. He has been brought down to earth and now needs picking up; I'm guessing LVG will value his energy in a 3 and get the best out of him. Blimey, I feel a little light headed after that.

If he doesn't leave this summer I think he could play a similar role to that Clasie lad for Holland. Pretty much back-up, but would play the anchor type position. What we need is a good midfield partner for Herrera. Vidal would be my first choice.

10 Jul 2014 20:19:11
Nonsense! A weak midfielder will always benefit from an extra body to play with in midfield. Cleverly is more concerned with keeping his passing percentage at a premium,than actually contributing anything significant to the team and game. And to the contrary I think it was his belief in the hype that carried him for so long. The lad's been found out. He is nowhere near the level required to be a regular at this club and I also think we could pick up a better squad player who would be happy with a secondary role. Every year on here it's the same tripe "maybe he deserves one last chance" "He could come good" regarding several repeat offenders. We finished 7th! It wasn't all moyes' fault.

I think he will end up joining Everton and he will become a better player under better management and support from better fans.

10 Jul 2014 22:26:45
Cleverley is a useful, homegrown squad player who has the potential to flourish under LVGs tutelage. It is absolutely senseless letting him go before clearing out the genuine deadwood from our midfield.

Don't get me wrong, I'm under no illusions, he has massively failed to fulfil his potential, but how is he meant to when he gets slaughtered via social media for every aspect of his game - even retaining possession! Like Gibson before him, Cleverley has been made a scapegoat for SAFs neglect of the midfield.

Syd in what way are Everton's fans better?
Are you also saying Martinez's management of Everton is better than the management of Fergie, don't forget Cleverley was rubbish when SAF was boss. Your irrational love of 23 has sent you a bit soft in the head.

10 Jul 2014 23:00:56
Wow syd, better fans! Bit harsh mate bit harsh ;-)

I hope Van Gaal's plan for Cleverley is to wish him good luck at his next club.

11 Jul 2014 12:27:18
Just like Bornintoit said, he focuses so much on ball retention and keeping his pass accuracy up that he doesn't contribute to the attack, it made him predictable too. Good attitude, always got stuck in and had passion just unfortunately not talented enough, that's all there is to it. I'd rather keep Fellaini as back up, feel he offers more than Tom.

10 Jul 2014 18:46:12
Now that Evra is off, realistically who will come in knowing full well he will be 2nd choice? Will Blind be content being back up and is he good enough? And what happened to Tyler Blackett he looked promising 2 years ago
In other news Fellaini has cut his hair, now we can't even call him giant microphone anymore!

Loko, did anyone ever call him that? Useless, immobile, clunky perhaps

AJH a couple of fans I follow on twtter called him that and something like 'bog broom'. Even the memes of a big tree in the middle of a football pitch don't work now

Bet he has well hairy feet.

10 Jul 2014 17:18:46
There is a journalist saying we are balking at Juve's €47m asking price for Vidal. That is around £37.5m. Can't we give them £30m plus Nani? If this is true I would be very concerned. The best b2b midfielder on the planet available for £37.5m and we are balking at the price.

Seems fishy Sydney seeing as we already spent £37m on Mata. I'd assume they'd of wanted atleast the 37 along with Nani, with some outlets saying they wanted 50 plus Nani.
Fingers crossed anyways

May or may not be true. If true not surprised because we have missed out on so many players with trying not to pay what other clubs will in the end especially since 2005 Also we paid £27 mil for a dud last summer which makes Vidal look cheap

Perhaps we are negotiating. I'm guessing the pot is not unlimited

I'm not sure if we are negotiating mate. I hope we are, but Juve don't tend to back down on their prices. My guess is that we are balking at their price, but I think the price we are balking at is higher than the reported £37.5m.

At the end of the day MU are not stupid and Vidal will be getting discussed at some level between the two clubs. Hopefully Ed Woodward is using the Evra talks to get a lot of the Vidal leg work done. It's widely reported that we want Vidal, but until we actually bid it's not confirmed is it. Come on EW sorted it out son.

The drawback is the reporter saying it is Ducker of the times and he is as reliable a reporter for United news as anyone.Hopefully it's a ploy to stand firm but tbh who cares how much it is it's only glazer pocket money

10 Jul 2014 14:32:18
Do you guys think it will be better value going for Depay or.Cuadarado as our wing option rather then splashin 40 mill plus on Di Maria?

Im surprised we never went for sanchez

Don't forget Cuardrado is 26. He's not young. Depay is young but he's not established. Di Maria is the finished article. Not my first or second choice, but he would be a good signing.

I am surprised too but there are reporta in the media that he prefered a more central role as to the role on the wings hence why he has chosen Arsenal to play as a centre forward.

Another reason it surprises me is that Sanchez and Vidal are both chileans it wouldve been easier for us to sign both if you know where I am coming from.

Jred, we bid for Sanchez, but it looks as though we never followed it up with another bid. Strange!

Di Maria any day of the week.
Class act!

If money isn't an option, then Di Maria, he's a game changer with the pace that our front line is currently crying out for. On the other hand, Depay undoubtedly has potential, but I think he would probably benefit from another couple of seasons in the Eredivisie

There is speculation we bid but if arsenal have got him for 30 mill which I think is reasonable I would question if we really wanted him . Especially when you take in to account what we where happy to spend on shaw herrera fellaini and mata

Griezmann but I think you all know that :)

Jred, the editor confirmed the bid we made via a third party, but perhaps Sanchez ruled us out with no UCL football, or maybe we refused to pay what Barcelona wanted therefore we were never an option for him? Like I said it's a strange one.

Syd
As I said he has gone for a fair price so I can only guess that he didn't fancy united or united weren't that keen and just putting the feelers out . I would guess we must of bid under 30 mill which would never be enough

10 Jul 2014 13:21:00
Well guys for a bit of fun what cliches or vacuous buzzwords get under your skin on here. I remember a poster asking the same on here a number of weeks ago with respect to sports commentary. Feel free to include the worst offenders in your answers ;)

I hate the line that Townsend uses a lot, amongst most others whenever an International game is on and a mistake is made - "You can't get away with that in International Football, not at this level"

International football is far inferior to top flight football in many leagues, the players don't know each other well and more often than not half the team carries the other half. So the point is stupid and misleads those watching who only ever tune in to International games for patriotic reasons.

Warchest has to be the worst doesn't it?

When they say "We could be looking at a cricket score here" when its like 5-0. which cricket score is below 10?!

"He Never Stops Running"

Agree with you there Fresh that one does my head in. Andy Townsend needs a good slap.

I agree about "war chest" being up there.

Andy Townsend is one of the worst thigs to happen to commentary in modern football. Ofcourse he had a career in football but he didn't have a GOOD career in football and often I find his views either too critical or too stupid to agree with. I may not be one to talk but I can appreciate when a keeper makes a good save or a striker has a good effort on goal, Townsend is more often than not like "he should have done better there" or "the keeper has to save that unstoppable strike from 2 yards out". I know for a fact that soo many people share the same opinion as me on Andy Townsend. He's like the Andrew Castle of Tennis!

10 Jul 2014 15:51:27
I think the worst has to be Glenn Hoddle, with some of his stupidest being:

"Michael Owen is a goalscorer, not a natural born one, not yet, that takes time"

"Young David's young"

And my personal favourite "I have never heard a minutes silence like that"

Townsend deserves a slap with a sledgehammer Carloto for a footballer oozing with mediocrity he always seems to know where players went wrong or what they should have done! He makes me want to to insert earwigs

"Unplayable"
Just say it in your head then think about it.
It makes no sense.

10 Jul 2014 12:20:33
A few questions around what we see as our next moves in the transfer window:

1. CB position, would we be better with 1 top quality addition (Hummels) or 2 good additions (De Vrij and Vermarlen). I am leaning towards the latter and allow Smalling to be sold, send Keane on loan for 6 month/year to a lower premier league team

2. HM position, should we go for Carvallho now and accept we have to pay the money or utilise Carrick for 6months/year and try and bring in Strootman in Jan/next summer.

3. M position, Vidal.please just pay the money and get Vidal!

4. AW position, do we need 2 wingers or utilise Nani/Valencia and just get 1. Also, Di Marea looks like he would fit in well but is he worth the amount being quoted?

5. Sales, these will probably be as difficult to get right as purchases but should we be looking to off load some players that are almost first team, Kagawa/Rooney/Smalling/Young/Evra

6. What youngsters do you see having a chance of making the 25 next year.

Buy Hummels and sell no one.

10 Jul 2014 13:01:27
Brad,

What is your issue with Smalling? I imagine he will be going nowhere. Neither will Rooney.

I can see Evra Carrick Fellani Young Nani and possibly Welbeck leaving Kagawa I think would be subject too a good 15 million bid nothing less think Keane will get a loan and Powell will be subject too player sales Cleverly is like Kagawa and would need a good offer

CB: Hummels first choice or Vermaelen, who is versatile. CM: Vidal hopefully, or else Carvalho. Wing: Di Maria or Cuadrado. From the youth, I hope we see Wilson and Lingard at least. Players to be sold - Evra, Nani, Fellaini, Cleverley, Young, and maybe Chicharito.

LVG won't let smalling go in my opinion, he has all the attributes to be a top class defender, really needs to brush up on his distribution but keep him away from right back and play with a top class holding midfielder whos constantly looking to receive the ball from out centre backs then that problem isn't as big as it seems. even rios distribution was terrible last year but the lack of movement from midfield was quite gobsmacking to be honest, its no coincidence a certain ginger maestro had retired either because he didn't just go looking for the ball when he could, he demanded the ball all the time and made space for others when he couldn't receive it.

10 Jul 2014 15:28:42
GDS I'll reply for Brad as from his posti suspect we are off the same opinion.

I don't rate Smalling at all. I would pick Jones first of our current CB's by a country mile. I think his distribution is better (He has played half his time for us in midfield) I think he has more discipline and I love his commitment. Smalling remind me of Bambi. His touch isn't great his only real saving graces are he's tall and pretty quick. Evans for me is somewhere in between the 2 Solid and dependable so better than smalling but has no where near the potential jones has.

I think people forget just how good Jones was when he was playing week in week out for Blackburn at CB.

I also personally would rate Keane higher than smalling. probably just behind Evans but with the potential to be better.

I would also love it if we could get Hummels but I genuinely think the idea of us getting him is pie in the sky. Were he available I can't see any of the top 10 teams in the world not being interested. Currently we fall too far down the pecking order for us to be a realistic destination for him.

I thought Miranda was a far more likely signing though it looks now like he will stay at AM.

I wouldn't mind De Vrijj I recon he alongside Vlarr has looked good, Indi looked like a beast but again with a dodgy touch. However this wouldn't exactly bring in the experienced defender we seem to need.

Vermaleen I'm really not convinced by either. Seems rather injury prone and also warms Arsenal's bench even when fit. He may however be the best experienced option for us to bring in at the moment to be the leader of the defence. (Potentially to be replaced a year later when (I hope/expect) we have CL football again.

I'm not sure we would need both Vermaleen and De Vrijj though unless Van Gaal is set on playing 3 CB's.

I think Smalling would be a top class defender if he had a brain transplant!

I really dislike the hatred towards Smalling over the last 6-12 months. Even with Rio and Vidic here he was our 3rd best CB over the last 2 years. He has pace, he can tackle, he is good in the air, his decision making is good; the only things he needs to work on is his distribution from the back and his aerial ability int he opponents box.

For those of you who feel he is surplus to requirements if we purchase a CB or 2 you really must be watching a different game to me. Yes he has made a few mistakes over the years but who in our team hasn't over the same period?

He is a great CB and has a lot more potential in him. I would be very upset if he were to leave us for a rival as he will be a starter a top side for years to come.

10 Jul 2014 11:57:34
Could we have a poll question or for this to go on the banter page about whether or not Bebe and Anderson deserve this last chance?

I think both do.

10 Jul 2014 12:26:46
Anderson has had multiple chances over the last 6 years. He has had little or no football in the last year, so I can't see any chance of him impressing LVG.
Bebe is still paying for the ridiculous price United paid for him. Not his fault though. I would leave him on lone and see what happens. Maybe he's a late bloomer, like Ian Wright?
Where we to give them another chance they would only be blocking someone from the Youth team stepping up. I imagine LVG is looking to trim the squad, particularly as we are not in Europe.

For me no, its the same with Nani too, all three and maybe Young Cleverley etc need to be moved on. How many chances do they get. Nani and Anderson in particular have say, 55 mins of excellent football and we all think "oh they have turned a corner" yet those 55 mins are followed by 15 games of nothing followed by 10 games out injured. We can't carry players anymore as the first 18 is not strong enough for players to hide.

Bebe yes as he has not really been at Utd and his performances in Portugal warrent a good look at him in a Utd shirt.
Anderson, only if he has got himself into top shape in the summer as this would show his commitment. THere are worse players at the club.he just needs to have someone work on hi attitude.

Bebe is more deserving of the chance. You're meant to go out on loan and impress, he has certainly done that.

Sell em and bring in the quality required. We are not a charity.

All of them (Young, Cleverly, Nani, Anderson) out. I couldn't care less if Nani (or any of them) go on to be 10 goals/ 30 assists a season at their new clubs, because regardless of whether they could end up performing at the level United should be playing at, just seeing them line up will remind me of how frustrating it has been seeing such under-par players (not) turn up for us, these last few years. New start, ship the dead wood out. It baffles me why anyone thinks Anderson will ever be more than a lazy, bloated playboy.

Anderson Young Cleverly Nani should be moved on Bebe deserves a chance he is still young and hasn't had much of a chance Young and Nani are both 25/26 Young is maybe older than that you have to be a regular at that age

Bebe deserves a chance because he did well on loan.

Anderson should be sued for breach of contract for impersonating a professional footballer.

10 Jul 2014 13:44:34
Young was 29 the other day Paddy.

If Anderson hasn't had kids yet he should be chemically castrated so he doesn't pass his genes on.

10 Jul 2014 10:43:31
Looking forward to the US tour now. Who do we expect to start? Will LvG take a look at some of our squad players first or go straight in with a strong XI?

Complete stab in the dark at this stage, but I think for our first game the team will be;

Lindegaard
Rafael Jones Evans Shaw
Cleverley Carrick Herrera
Welbeck Rooney (C) Kagawa

Mata, Herrera, Rooney, Kagawa, De Gea and Shaw have all travelled which is great news. Anderson and Bebe have also travelled and I wouldn't be surprised to see either get some game time as 'one last chance'. We will be playing some top teams in the tournament we are in so will be a good chance to see a lot of them against some good teams. LVG will learn a lot about this I am sure.

I think we will line up as Believe suggests but probably Mata in for Cleverly. Playing Carrick and Herrera as a 2 and Kagawa and Welbeck either side of Mata behind Rooney. Hope to see some of the younger players and squad players given a run out though. i'd hope to see us take it seriously as there will be strong opponents and it will be a good way to come in to the next season.

10 Jul 2014 10:27:42
Bebe and Anderson included on US tour. .not sure if they have a future at the club but glad Van Gaal Is taking a look at them.
I hope that someone like Giggs has got to Anderson at the end of last season and told him to Stay off the pies. hit the gym and start pre season fit and in good shape. If he dI'd then I can see him possibly worth a place in the squad with van gaal guiding and utilising him as sub for Harera/Vidal (dream)

Perhaps we leave them in lost luggage!

Brad76 - i'm really don't understand why you would want us (Man United) to waste another season on that fat layabout Anderson.
The guy has fleeced United of 60 odd grand a week for the past 6 seasons and has given absolutely nothing back to the club or the fans.
He has to go, he's burnt all his bridges and has been a complete failure, probably one of the worst buys ever considering the price that we paid for him. And whilst were at it get rid of Nani, Cleverly, Bebe and Ashley Young and generate a few quid to buy some new talent.

I'm sure he's been given that advice plenty of times in the past but he obviously doesn't understand.

Very interested to see what Anderson and Bebe can do. If Anderson has been told to get fit and act professionally he still has fantastic ability and can drive forward and beat a man. He's certainly far more talented than the likes of Fletcher and Cleverley. I hope he does well. I'd also love to see Bebe score a few and play well, he can't be worse than Young.

Simmo,

Spot on. One of the main reasons our squad has so much deadwood I due to players being given way too many chances.

Nani, I'm looking at you too. Both these guys are in the their late 20s now, the time for 'giving them a lastn chance' has long gone.

Simmo1975, I agree with your sentiment but I also think he has not been managed well. He needs to be loved, given games and actually put through a training plan for his weight. As stated if he has not worked on his fitness then get him out but if he has at least let's see what he can do in pre season. I also think we can't completely change the team in 1 window. .as one of the Ed's said it will take 2/3 so if he is fit and Van Gaal thinks he can do a job then I say keep him.

10 Jul 2014 14:09:15
Brad,

If a player 'needs to be loved' then he 'need to f*** off' as far as I am concerned. Never heard anything like it.

10 Jul 2014 08:50:19
In my unbiased opinion our now retired right back gary neville was the best manchester utd rb I've ever seen, at times I think he wasn't appreciated & taken for granted most of the time, neville was an outstanding professional in the famous manchester utd shirt & deeply loved our club, for the record I think gary neville will go on to become a fantastic coach & has every chance of becoming manchester utd manager, he's got a very sharp football brain & is by far the best pundit on ssn, he always says the correct things, your thoughts on gn red devil fans?

10 Jul 2014 09:13:15
Remains to be seen if he makes a good coach or manager , being a good pundit on Sky doesn't really prove much.

Agree he was a very good rb and a real United man .
One thing I never thought he got enough credit for was his crossing which was excellent

Agree Neville was a good RB but ever I don't think so that in my opinion would be Irwin. The guy was a different class both either RB or LB always got 7-8/10. Neville was so one footed while Irwin could use either and also used to be a very good free/penalty taker. Agree Neville will go on to be a very good coach can't see him being a manager

Hi Guys!
Lets's throw Viv Anderson into the hat. He was Fergie's first signing and a snip at £250k. Never really got enough England recognition that he deserved
Red Setter

10 Jul 2014 03:54:55
Hello Everyone

Well now the dutch are out. Netherlands was far from what we know. Far from total football. Barring that one game against Spain the dutch were almost boring. And was van persie even on the field yesterday. Hardly got a touch. Thank god that it was just a rumour that we were looking at kuyt. We already have a better version of him in ashley young. I mean what was he doing on the pitch. He forgot most times which side was his goal.
Kept running towards his own goal
If that is how van gaal will get us to play, hardly a change from what moyes was doing then. I know I may be wrong and would love to eat my words here.
Herez hoping to a new exciting football playing united side.

On a brighter note, let's get some transfers sorted out quickly before the tour. Come on king louis.

Shan

10 Jul 2014 07:10:20
Holland are suffering from the same issue we have been having. Unable to command the midfield. The game was set about cancelling out threats rather than being a threat themselves. However as much as I dislike Kuyt you are aware he was playing is a WB right? he did a good job of it too I feel considering he is a Forward. Terribly one footed though meaning he would always have to cut in off that left or play it back. Rvp got no service again similar to us last year. Mascherano was a beast last night and for me the stand out player. Hollands squad is not great let's be honest and did well to get this far. You have 3 aging Star Forwards and not really anyone to supply them. Only Robben is capable of making it happen out of nothing from the midfield the other 2 rely on a service. Holland just don't have that midfield presence now Strootman is out

RVP was not well - but it was shocking how he failed to hold the ball up once during the whole game and Huntelaar comes on and does it instantly twice within 2 minutes.

I am not slagging RVP as he could be immense next season, but I am concerned about how frequently he is getting caught offside, it was happening a hell of a lot last season and this world cup it has been horrendous. Hopefully it isn't a sign of age catching up with him.

10 Jul 2014 09:16:58
Oh my god, are we actually serious? This is possibly the biggest overreaction I have ever seen on this site. He wasn't managing us last night, he was managing a side which has some pretty poor players and got them playing as a team. They kept a clean sheet for 120 minutes against a team with Messi in it. If he can get Ron Vlaar playing like that how well can Evans, Smalling, Jones and a new centre half play?

I think we will see some players who were written off and poor last season suddenly fitting into the new style and impressing us all.

Beast, agree about RVP, think it was obvious he was ill and probably shouldn't have started the game last night, but I am sure adrenaline was making him think he was fine before the game started and he would not want to miss what is probably his last chance at winning the World Cup.

In this World Cup Holland beat Spain 5-1, Australia 3-2, Chile 3-0, Mexico 2-1, should have beaten Costa Rica but had to settle for a shoot out and then drew 0-0 with a good Argentina side nullifying an in form Messi in the process,. Do you think Moyes would have been able to get any of them results Shan?

So barring the 1 game against Spain, the 1 game against Chile, the 1 game against Australia and the comeback against Mexico the Dutch were 'almost' boring. Give me a break.

10 Jul 2014 09:32:15
I didn't see the game as took the wife to see Robbie Williams at the O2 and from what I heard about the game, didn't miss much. However, and I apologise if I am wrong but I hope I am not getting a sense of Van Gaal bashing already because of a poor performance and a defeat on Pens in a World Cup Semi Final?

Holland, I believe have punched massively above their weight in this tournament and when they put 5 past Spain, the tone regarding Van Gaal and RVP was a lot different. On paper, Argentina have probably along with Germany, the best team in the world cup and I would put Spain, France and arguably Portugal in terms of established players ahead of Holland, then with the South American factor with Chile and Colombia, I think Van Gaal has done exceptionally well, they got to a World Cup Semi Final with an Aston Villa CB! Like I said, I hope this wasn't a Van Gaal bashing/criticising post. I think with our young players and current additions and potential additions, we have reason to be optimistic this season.

Lets not forget Van Der Vaart and Strootman are missing there your creativity gone and De Jong was only half fit Wilnaldum is better slightly furter forward

GDS2 - I was thinking the same thing about our defence mate. We obviously need an experienced player at CB of quality, but if he can get inferior players performing that well consistently then the future is bright and it isn't as big a concern as what we first thought. It just shows that all you need is a solid organised structure and as long as the players have the raw attributes then we can be hard to score against.

The flip side to that is the Dutch looked very devoid of ideas going forward and lack players attacking in numbers, just relying on Robben to do something special (we don't have a Robben yet) - which is kind of what we suffered from last season, RVP isolated and Rooney/Mata having limited options when they have the ball (Sneijder).

I hope and I'm sure it's a case that LVG knows how limited the Dutch are and he will bring a more attacking mind-set to us next season with better players.

Can't agree more with kuyt. He was absolutely clueless on the ball. We don't want him anywhere near OT for sure.

I think Van Gaal did a tremendous job at the World Cup with a limited team. He showed tactical flexibility, beat some very good teams, and held Argentina for 120 minutes.

Their wingbacks never looked confident on the ball, neither Kuyt, Blind, or Janmaat. I thought Wijnaldum played well, and Jordy Clasie looked quite good when he came on. But it seemed that both center mids were instructed to hold the middle to deal with Messi starting from deep positions. All of which left Robben to do too much on his own.